Boone County official hopes new 911 center will improve response times

Boone County expects quicker 911 response times, according to Emergency management director Terry Cassil. A new Boone County 911 emergency center opened on 9/11. Emergency management director Terry Cassil tells KSSZ in Columbia the old building was due for an upgrade.

Photo courtesy of KSSZ

“All these things that have been built and how much Columbia and Boone County itself has changed and grown in that 20 years and joint communications has been in that same exact footprint for that entire time,” says Cassil. “It allows them to expand to have the number of call takers and dispatchers that they really need for this size of community.”

Voters approved in 2013 a sales tax to fund the building of the facility.

“This is just the first phase. This is a big phase, but this is the first phase of what happens with that ongoing tax,” says Cassil.